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MULLAITTIVU: DISORGANIZED and panicking Tiger organization, now breathing its last, unable to survive in the absence of moral and material support, appeared to have got their priorities mixed, if not torpedoed. The Sea Tiger base they had been running in the PUTHUMATTALAN “No Fire Zone” lagoon area had been reduced to a mere tiny pier, it was found by the troops found as they rolled in to the base.
MULLAITTIVU: TROOPS on the last leg of the final battle to rescue remaining trapped civilians took a precise target at about 9.00 am this morning (24) when they found two terrorists in the ‘No Fire Zone’ were hurriedly pursuing a group of fleeing trapped civilians in the general area between VELAYANMADAM and AMPELVANPOKKANAI . Troops closing in on VELAYANMADAM in the past 36 hours found remaining civilians, now largely fleeing in small numbers through whatever the opening available around them, were being closely and furiously followed by desperate.....
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JAFFNA: DISTRICT Secretary for JAFFNA Mr. K. GANESH categorically denies having requested “any immediate assistance from JAFFNA NGOs to help meet basic needs of VANNI people” arriving in JAFFNA for temporary housing. Mr. K. GANESH speaking to www.army.lk asserted that JAFFNA does not have any such “detention centres for fleeing WANNI civilians,” but twelve Welfare Centres where as of Friday (24) some 11,500 displaced civilians remain housed.“We have enough stocks and situation in those Welfare Centres is good. I have not spoken to any specific NGO as such.....
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MAJOR GENERAL G.A Chandrasiri, Chief of Staff Sri Lanka Army has been appointed Competent Authority for co-ordinaton, administration and implementation of all welfare and relief work in relation to displaced WANNI civilians with immediate effect. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has made this appointment in order to get all relief services streamlined following intensification of the exodus of trapped civilians into cleared areas.
WANNI: TWO thousand six hundred and three (2603) more civilians reached government controlled areas during Friday (24) increasing the number of civilians rescued by the Army since 20th April to 109,320. In the meantime, troops continued their advance during Friday (24), in search of Tiger leaders hiding in the remaining land patch of the ‘No Fire Zone’ amidst heavy resistance from LTTE terrorists.
FOREIGN Secretary Palitha Kohona stressed that there was no need for special missions from other countries to evacuate the IDPs from the safe zone and the situation may not arise as over 100,000 civilians have already moved to the cleared areas. Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe pointed out that the international community feared that there will be a blood bath in the NFZ but it has been proved beyond doubt that it is not so.
A HIGH level Indian delegation comprising Indian National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Temple Trees yesterday (24). President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Indian officials held cordial discussions over lunch on matters of mutual interest to both countries. During this meeting which lasted for about two hours, President Rajapaksa explained to the Indian visitors the success of the humanitarian operation to rescue the civilians held hostage by the LTTE in the Vanni.
CONTRARY to biased reports circulating in the international media and among NGO and INGO circles the rescue mission that is being conducted successfully in the Vanni has been most humane, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the Daily News yesterday. According to information from ground sources in Puthumattalan and Ampalavanpokkanai the civilians arriving in the Government controlled area have been quite vocal in expressing their unprecedented hatred and anger towards the LTTE that has been keeping them under subjugation for so long, he added.
EXACTLY three years ago on a sunny day like today (April 25), the Nation was shocked to learn the disturbing news on LTTE’s suicide attempt on the life of the incumbent Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka inside the Army Headquarters premises. Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka who had by them commenced the liberation of the East from the grips of LTTE terrorism had a narrow survival after a series of major surgeries, done both in Sri Lanka and overseas.
MULLAITTIVU: IN what appeared to be a surprise, a 21-member strong group of priests, believed to have been forcibly detained by Tiger terrorists inside the “No Fire Zone” in PUTHUMATTALAN managed to find their exit Saturday morning (25) at about 10.30 a.m. and reached the troops at MULLIYAWALAI, MULLAITTIVU. The team including three parish priests (fathers), fourteen nuns (sisters) and four trainee nuns, belonging to Pente Costal Mission has been reportedly forcibly detained by Tiger terrorists despite numerous appeals made to them for their release.
